Jean Russo

Jean Russo was Richard Russo’s mother. Her relationship with her son is the focus of Russo’s book. She was a single mother and was proud of her claim that she was independent. Russo realized his mother really was not as independent as she thought she was at any point in her life. She was dependent on others for rides to work or other places that she wanted to go. She was also dependent on her parents because they provided her with a relatively inexpensive apartment and free child care for Russo.

As long as Russo can remember, his mother suffered from what the family referred to as nerves. When he was a child he was careful to be well behaved and not add any stress to his mother’s life because he did not want her to have a nervous breakdown because of him...